Spatial Distance
by Serratia marcescens
Summary: Formerly called More or Less. He loved her. She loved him. The only thing in their way was his marriage to another woman. Eventual KandaxLenalee
1. Meeting

**Spatial Distance by: WhereDidMyPenNameGo?**

**Summary:** He loved her, she loved him. The only thing standing in their way was his marriage to another woman. KandaxLenalee.

**Disclaimer:** No.

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**Chapter One: Meeting  
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It started with a knock on the door. Quite an insignificant act really, since people knock on doors all the time without their lives changing drastically. Unless it was the rare moment where an unfamiliar young man stood uncomfortably on the front steps asking for the guarding job. This baffled Urahara Miyoko, for never in her seventeen years of life had she heard of her father needing any sort of protection, whether it was for business or paranoid comfort. And yet this man dared to imply such a thing? Surely her parents had enough sense to refuse this ludicrous offer, because they simply have no use to employ ragamuffins for superfluous jobs.

Yet life had many twists and turns, this was one of them. Not only did her parents zealously invite him in – during the dead of night, of all times – but they also offered him the job on the spot after an intense meeting behind closed doors that excluded Miyoko. After the ragamuffin (she refused to call him by any other name no matter how beautiful and skilled he was) left, her mother excitedly told her that he was actually of affluent background and would be an excellent addition to the household.

Much to her chagrin, the ragamuffin truly proved his worth, displaying much composure and grace, not to mention his skill in swordsmanship was excellent. However, that only served to fuel her antagonistic behavior towards him, and despite her protests, her parents decided to play matchmaker and pushed them together.

Thus, she ended up sitting across from that ragamuffin, sipping tea and attempting to obey the orders of 'getting to know each other better.' As Miyoko sat there, she dimly wondered what could possibly possess her parents to arrange a meeting with this foreign man. Of course it was mostly due to her expired marriageable age, she speculated, but there were many other suitable men. Ones who were at least more familiar than this person. It was the wishes of her parents, though, so she ended up here, wishing there was something she could do to break the awful, suffocating silence.

"So, um," Miyoko finally said, "what's your favorite color?"

"I don't have one."

"Oh."

_This is wonderful, _thought Miyoko,_ we're making such wonderful progress._

The failed attempt at courteous conversation tore her confidence apart, and she continued to play absent-mindedly with anything her hands could get to, if only to distract her from the insufferable silence. She silently berated herself because it wasn't polite to ignore a guest; if it had been her mother, she would know what to do in this sort of situation. All she wanted to do was to hide in her room and scream her head off, because being in a room all alone with a male unnerved Miyoko even though she knew it was to give her a chance to be familiar with the man without the interference of her parents.

Even now, twenty minutes later, the silence continued, save for the pathetic attempt moments before. At last, she spoke up again.

"I, uh, don't think I ever got your name." As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew it was an idiotic thing to say. After all, this person has been working under them for months and not once has she bothered to learn his name. It was always ragamuffin or _that _person whenever she chose to mention him.

"Kanda."

"That's a nice name. Is that….?" At his fierce glare, Miyoko faltered and swallowed her curiosity of knowing whether or not that was his given name.

"It… suits you very well."

"Hn."

_Really now, _wondered Miyoko_, how am I suppose to reply to tha_t? She was getting frustrated with her failed attempts at conversation, though it was his lack of effort that frustrated her the most.

Trying to calm herself down, she decided to take this chance to properly look at him. In all the times that she saw him, it was at a far distance where he looked like a blobby mass of flowing black and blue. Now, she noticed how exceptionally silky his hair was, how not a strand stuck out in odd places or curled where it shouldn't curl like her hair. She noticed how, despite his long, flowing mane, he was still very masculine due to the sharp contour of his face as opposed to the soft angles of a woman. She noticed how he still retained a creamy, smooth complexion in spite of hours training under the sun and rivets of sweat pouring down his face. _It's not fair he's prettier than me and I'm a female, _she thought pettily.

She sighed, rather than calming her down, looking at him riled her even more and that was far from the original point. Instead, she asked, "So… what's your favorite food?"

"Don't know."

"Do you like sweet foods?"

"No."

"Spicy?"

"No."

"Sour?" It was hard to keep from rolling her eyes contemptuously. Surely he was merely jesting and actually did enjoy consuming certain types of food more than others…

"No."

In a last ditched effort to cajole some sort of different response, Miyoko asked, "Do you even like food?" and took great effort to keep her voice levelly civil without snapping at him.

"No."

"Can you say anything besides 'no'?"

"No."

He was toying with her now, if his imperceptible smirk was of any indication. Had her mother not drilled ladylike behavior into her since childhood, Miyoko would have already burst out violently at this arrogant prick. As it was, she could feel a loud, agonized scream bubbling, and she forced herself from leaping up and joyfully strangling this forbiddingly beautiful man. Instead, she smiled and committed the gravest sin of leaving her guest alone in the room as she made her escape under the guise of "getting a new pot of tea."

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A/N: So I decided to do some revision and when I read the first chapter, I was appalled, like "Holy crap this sucked!" and made some major changes. Including chapter organization and such. For first time readers, it's not going to affect you at all so just keep reading! And please don't despair, even though there's an OC, it will most definitely be KandaLenalee in the end. Thank you and happy readings!  
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	2. Dates and Plums

**Spatial Distance by: WhereDidMyPenNameGo?**

**Summary:** He loved her, she loved him. The only thing standing in their way was his marriage to another woman. KandaxLenalee.

**Disclaimer:** No. Belongs to Katsura Hoshino and Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Chapter Two: Dates and Plums  
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For whatever reason, her father felt that the meeting had gone well, even with Miyoko's storming out of the room. How he managed to come to this conclusion was beyond her understanding. Then again, any parent would feel elated that, after an entire week, the same handsome, young man would come knocking on their door, asking permission to court their daughter. Yes, it was indeed a meeting gone well, and the fact that she had ran straight to her mother's arms – declaring her death if she were to marry that "cold ass-bastard," no less – was smoothly ignored by everyone. And so the courtship commenced.

On their first meeting, they went to the annual village fair and strolled about, watching the children enjoy the festivities, tasting the local cuisine, and getting to know one another. Or at least _one_ of them was doing the knowing while the other was doing the talking. But Miyoko was an obedient child and learned, in her younger days, how to read underneath the underneath from her mother; a skill she'd put to use on this particular occasion. So when he escorted her back to her house late that evening, she felt that the day wasn't such a waste of time and thought, perhaps a bit disillusioned, that he wasn't such a bastard, as she'd originally thought.

On their second meeting, they visited one her father's massive gardens, and they strolled through the aesthetic vegetation for hours on end, pausing only to enjoy lunch under the shade of the lush sunflowers. They spent the rest of the evening under the summer night sky, with her telling him about her childhood playing the garden. She concluded that anyone who had such passion for plants was a decent, if not caring and possibly loving, person – even under that caustic exterior. She fell a little in love that day.

On their third meeting, they went to the docks and cruised on one of her father's smaller ships. He had been most intrigued by her father's merchant business, and Miyoko gladly told him all the exciting stories of other countries and their exotic wares that her father had told her long ago. She liked the interested glint in his eyes and how he paid special attention to her when she talked about her family, wanting to impress him with more and more exciting stories that may or may not have been slightly exaggerated. She decided that any man who was so interested in business had a good head on his shoulders, not to mention that her feelings may be reciprocated if his questions about her family were of any indication. She fell a little more in love that day.

After the multiple moments spent together in each others' company, he went to her parents and formally asked for Miyoko's hand in marriage. Her father was jubilant, having at last an heir for whom the business could be passed, but her mother sniffed and told her husband not to get his hopes up because "that boy seemed more like the type to battle than to tamely conduct business with foreign countries". Nonetheless, she was happy that it was this hominine young man who will marry her daughter. A good-looking, strong man that was not from the surrounding area.

As time went on and Miyoko's mother secretly researched the background of her future son-in-law, she began to have doubts about the truthfulness of her future son-in-law, especially when she found no information regarding a Black Order that he said he grew up in. From what that boy told her, it seemed to be a religious affiliation though which religion he neglected to say. One evening, she turned to her beloved husband and quietly asked him if this was actually a good idea. After all, they could find no information or reference on the Black Order, and quite frankly, that seemed very suspicious.

Her husband just chuckled at the absurdity of her concern. There was no way that young man could pose a problem, especially when he was all by himself, and he had such good talents.

"Besides," added Miyoko's father, "all the villagers love Mi-chan and they wouldn't let _anything_ hurt her."

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A/N: Hm….. I don't have much to say except criticism, thoughts, and opinions are greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading!

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